Advocate jailed for seven years

An advocate and his associate have been sentenced by a Delhi court to seven years in jail and fined Rs 52 lakh for duping investors through a sham investment scheme promising high returns 15 years ago.

Additional sessions judge Surinder Rathi sentenced 68-year-old practicing advocate K S Kardam and his associate Madan Lal, holding them guilty of duping investors of crores of rupees by running a fraudulent scheme “Hoffland”.

The court also prepared a list of 13 investors who had invested their money in the scheme. It directed that of the Rs 26 lakh fine to be paid by each convict, each investor be paid a compensation equal to thrice the money invested by him.

While convicting the duo, the court noted that the scam kingpin and Hoffland group firms’ proprietor B B Sharma had absconded after getting bail in another case and directed the Delhi police commissioner to take steps for getting a red corner notice issued against him through Interpol.